This news is provided free of charge to on-line users by TELE Satellit magazine and TS News Service GB. IT IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. It may not be reproduced for commercial reasons by any means what so ever. If you wish to reproduce this news or redistribute it for non commercial use please contact the email address below. Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von TELE Satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation freigegeben. Programming Note : This week marks a half year of TS electronic news ! Before the news I'd like to take time out to thank the many people that help with the compilation and distribution of this news. Without thier help the news would not reach as wide an audience. Yes folks, it's the TS News Roll of Honour ! TELE Satellit Publisher - Alexander Weise TELE Satellit Magazine - Reiner Klohn, Mathias Kronbach, Wolfgang Rossler, Petra Huther, Wolfgang Zimmerman plus many more ! TS News Bureau Munich - Peter Klanowski and reports from Norbert Schlammer, Markus Hammer and more ! TS News Distribution FUNET ftp site - Kauto Huopio World Wide Web site - Henrik Berle Globalnet GN.ONDES.COURTES.FR - Jean-Philippe Donnio Sparknet SK_SATELLITE - Jean-Philippe Donnio Fidonet RADIOCOMMS.FR - Jean-Philippe Donnio Fidonet RU.SAT - Alexej Vladimirov Fidonet SAT.027 - Rene Vreeman BTX / Datex J - Thomas Strahle Minitel SATPHONE - Joel Wirstzel SAT NET - Manuel Vitti NBC Text - John Doran Skyguide/telesat on CIX - Antony Purvis fax polling - Reiner Klohn fax polling - Tim Nawrath If you have access to a network we don't currently get to, and you'd like to join the list above by posting TS News once a week, please email me ! TELE SATELLIT EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE European Satellite News - English Version Number 26, Week ending 20 November 1994 By Martyn Williams News Desk : Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk or CompuServe 100025,1637 (c) TELE Satellit Magazine MPEG 2 is ratified as world standard ... The new MPEG 2 digital television standard received "international standard" status last Friday after a five day meeting of the International Standards Organisation and the International Electrotechnical Commission ended in Geneva. The MPEG 2 system provides a economical yet high quality delivery mechanism for worldwide distribution of digital television services. MPEG 2's predecessor, MPEG 1 is a world standard for movie CD's and is currently used for digital TV distribution within Europe for organizations such as FilmNet and RTL. ...as Europe agrees on digital legislation Late this week Telecommunications Ministers of the European Community approved plans to introduce widescreen and digital television in a coherent way in document COM(94) 455. The new legislation states that all new digital TV broadcasts will use an approved European standard. The rules also lay down that widescreen broadcasting in Europe is based upon the 16:9 format. The European Standard for digital television is currently being developed by the DVB group which includes major broadcasters and manufacturers. The encryption system used in such broadcasts must come up to a common standard although the rules do not restrict the number of encryption systems in use. At the same time the legislation requiring new TV services must use the D2-MAC system, ignored by all broadcasters, has been repealed. A major digital TV conference is taking place in London in two weeks and TS News plans full coverage direct from the venue. Satisfaction Club announces launch plans New Italian porn channel, Satisfaction Club Television, will launch November 25 with half an hour of programming from the Eutelsat 2 F3 satellite at 16 degrees East according to a fax sent to TS News this week. The choice of satellite is a change from the original bird, Eutelsat 1 F5, as announced in a special test broadcast last month. The full broadcasting plan is : November 25, 0010 to 0040 UTC (0110 - 0140 CET) Further broadcasts will take place during December on the 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd and 30th with a full hour of programming being broadcast from January 6th next year in the 0000 - 0100 UTC time slot. The channel says it will use the Digicrypt scrambling system which encrypts both audio and video. Subscriptions are available for 300,000 Lire / yr. which is approximately GBP 120 or DM 300. The channel on Eutelsat 2 F3 is 11.163 GHz, Horizontal. Associated Press launch APTV news service The worldwide news association AP launched it's new TV news service, APTV, last weekend. APTV is based at the AP's London newsroom. Through a special arrangement with the European Broadcasting Union, APTV will use the EBU's European and North America video distribution network to reach it's clients. The AP are building their own video network for future use. APTV's initial customers include Australia's ABC, the CBC in Canada, ERTN Egypt, NOS in the Netherlands, MTV Hungary, Switzerland's SRG, Venevision Venezuela and ITN in the UK. VOA Europe won't drop satellite service this year Washington based music service VOA Europe has stated that they won't be dropping the analogue service on Eutelsat 2F1 at the end of this year as widely speculated. Speaking to TS News VOA's Affiliate Affairs Head, John Stevens, said "VOA Europe will continue to offer a stereo signal via Eutelsat 2F1 until the summer of 1995 at least". The service currently feeds most of it's FM affiliates via a digital circuit on Eutelsat 2F4 which gives a better signal in Eastern Europe. Listeners wishing to contact VOA Europe can email voa-europe@voa.gov VOA Europe satellite details, Eutelsat 2 F4M - 12.564 GHz, digital audio Eutelsat 2 F1 - 11.163 GHz V, 7.38/7.56 MHz stereo Sky to reject ITN offer over news supply Sky are set to reject an offer from ITN to supply the Sky News channel, as reported in last weeks TS News. The UK's Independent on Sunday reported that BSkyB chairman Sam Chisholm was "infuriated" when the story was leaked and said there was "no chance of a deal being done." New Hungarian coalition agreement on media law Alfred Reisch (RFE/RL, Inc), Budapest, November 15 Following last week's six-party talks, media experts from the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party and Alliance of Free Democrats have reached agreement on the principles of a draft media law, MTI reported on 14 November. A subcommittee on which Hungarians abroad will also be represented is to supervise the programs for Hungarians in foreign countries. Hungarian Television, Hungarian Radio, and Danube Television are to become joint-stock companies, and their current chairmen are to remain in office for four years. The government coalition parties hope to put the draft media law on the parliament's agenda this year. The plenary debate and the passage of the law are to take place in January and February 1995, respectively. More new channels for Asia Yet more new channels are planned for the Asian skies before the end of the year. CTN is a new service that will offer two channels, one of news and one of entertainment, starting before the year's end. CTN will use the new PanAmSat 2 satellite and begin test broadcasts on November 25 in the clear before scrambling on December 30th. CTN is owned by Yu Pun-hoi who owns newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong. He says the news channel will be constantly updated from the newspapers 20 offices across Asia. Opposition set up pirate TV in Taiwan Kendall Buhl, VOA News, 17 November Taiwan's major opposition party is launching an unlicensed television station. Kendall Buhl of VOA News reports the station is the latest move in a media battle with the ruling Kuo Min Tang party. The Kuo Min Tang, or KMT, has controlled Taiwan politics since the nationalists fled to the island from mainland China in 1949 after losing a civil war with the communists. Under a state of martial law until 1987, the KMT was the only political party in Taiwan. With the end of martial law came opposition parties including the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP. Today the DPP holds about a third of the seats in the legislature and is a major contender in races for the provincial governor's seats and a few key mayoral posts. The DOO is the major voice of opposition against the still mostly KMT government. It favors Taiwan declaring itself an independent country while the KMT calls for the eventual reunification with mainland China. Now the opposition party has a new weapon in its constant battle against the KMT. The DPP's own television station will begin broadcasting in the capital and with the addition of two transmitters next week, will be able to broadcast across the island. The station will be broadcasting without a license. The DPP says the application process takes too long and is biased towards the KMT. The ruling party says any party in Taiwan has an equal opportunity for broadcasting licenses. Illegal radio stations are already common across the island and most of them broadcast DPP political views. However, this marks the first broadcast from a pirate television station. Party officials say much of the preparation for the station was conducted in secret, including the importation of television transmitters and other equipment. The Government's information office, which controls broadcasting on the island, three months ago cracked down on illegal radio stations and says it is considering a crackdown on the television station. But the radio crackdown was met with a severe backlash in public opinion and with the upcoming elections, the stakes in the media battle between the KMT and the opposition run high. Correction Last week we ran a story about The Power Rangers returning to TV3 after a young girl was killed in by her friends. We said the five year old was Swedish although Bjorn Karlsen emailed us to correct this story. The youngster was, in fact, Norwegian. Complete our survey - win a prize ! It's not much really, just some stuff from Travel on Intelsat 601. We've got a baseball cap, pen, badge and key ring. There's also a couple of small games from Ericsson for runners up. Please complete the survey and email it to survey@euro.demon.co.uk Closing date is December 15th 1994. The results will be in our Christmas issue. Prizes go the people who provide the most amusing answer to question 15 ! 1 What country do you live in ? 2 What is your principle language ? 3 What other languages do you speak ? 4 What bands to you have access to (S, C, Ku, DBS, Telecom) ? 5 Do you have a fixed dish, motorised, or flying LNB system ? 6 Which pay TV channels do you subscribe to ? 7 Which pay TV channels do you have access to ? 8 What are your top 5 satellite TV channnels (any language) ? 9 What are your five worst satellite TV channels ? 10 What are your top 5 foreign language TV channels ? 11 What are your top 5 radio stations ? 12 What is your favourite text service ? 13 What are your top sources of satellite news (tv, radio, magazines, text, online ...) ? 14 Where exactly do you get TS on-line news from (network and area) ? 15 Can you predict the top satellite news headline for next year ? If you have any other comments regarding the TELE Satellit News please write them here : email this completed questionaire to survey@euro.demon.co.uk In brief TS News Bureau London and Munich - The BBC News Channel on Eutelsat will begin test broadcasts from 1 December on the run up to a full launch on 1 January 1995 according to our Munich news desk and Radio Sweden. - Also on Radio Sweden, George Wood tells us that NRK, the Norwegian state broadcaster, will launch a new channel, NRK 2, which will only be available via satellite. - MTV Text has introduced a German section from page 600. (Markus Hammer) TELE Satellit Magazine This news is from the English language news service of TELE Satellit, a monthly satellite magazine edited in Munich, Germany. It consists of 132 pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of the satellite channels plus an informative technical section. Subscriptions are available for DM 120, Europe surface mail; DM 144, Europe airmail and DM 192, ROW airmail. Orders for subscriptions and more information should be sent to : TELE-satellit Customer Service, Silheimer Str. 6a, D-89278 Nersingen, Germany, Fax +49-7308-5296 Where to find satellite news : TELE Satellit News, English : CompuServe UK Forum (UKFORUM) - Windows Write / ASCII version, library 19 CompuServe European Forum (EURFORUM) - Windows Write version, library 5 CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - Windows Write version, library 15 fax polling +49-8282-81003 fax polling +49-2163-81744 NBC Super Channel - NBC Text page 171 ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html Fidonet SAT.028 newsgroup Fidonet RADIOCOMMS.FR Fidonet RU.SAT Globalnet : GN.ONDES.COURTES.FR Sparknet : SK_SATELLITE Anonymous FTP to : ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit CIX Skyguide/telesat conference SAT NET BBS network TELE Satellit News, German : CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - ASCII version, library 15 CompuServe Der Spiegel Forum (SPIEGEL) - ASCII version, library 11 fax polling +49-8282-81003 fax polling +49-2163-81744 SAT NET BBS network ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 TELE Satellit Hotline +49-90-6350613 Zeiten: Do 15-20 Uhr, Sa 14-20 Uhr TELE Satellit TV Last Friday of every month, repeated following Sunday . DFS Kopernikus 2, 28.5 degrees east. 11.625 GHz, Horizontal polarisation. Audio 6.60 MHz. 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET Other reliable sources of satellite news : - *44022999# ,menu option 30 on BTX / Datex J - 3615 SATPHONE on Minitel - Phone 3670-8192 in France - SAT 1 Text, page 550 with fresh news every 3-4 days plus frequency charts. - Radio Sweden Mediascan. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 20 minutes into the English programme via Astra, Shortwave, Mediumwave 1197 kHz and the World Radio Network. - Sat News on the Internet - Skyguide on the Internet and CIX - Radio Netherlands Media Network, Thursday, 23 minutes into the English programme via shorwave and The World Radio Network - World Wide Web users can access TS News and the electronic journals above and more information via the European satellite home page, URL http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html